On Earth Day last week, Muskegon area residents were reminded of how valuable our natural resources are and how important it is to protect them.

Residents had a chance to celebrate the many cleanup successes inspired by Earth Day and this area’s — and the state’s and nation’s — growing commitment to reducing pollution and other abuses of our forests, lakes and rivers. Over the last four decades, these efforts have restored our natural resources and protected public health.

As Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, visited the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory at NOAA’s Lake Michigan Field Station in Muskegon and took in the NOAA-funded restoration work along the Muskegon Lake shoreline, it was clear that the environment also has a definite connection to our economy.

NOAA has provided a $10 million stimulus grant to this area to restore 10 sites along Muskegon Lake and create construction jobs. The work will “soften” 10,000 feet of shoreline, reclaim 27 acres of wetland and create 125 jobs.

According to Michigan United Conservation Clubs, hunters and anglers using the state’s natural resources contribute $3.4 billion to the Michigan economy and create an additional $5.9 billion ripple effect. The boating industry adds another $11 billion to the economy.

Also feeding our economy are the shipping industry, power generated through the use of water, including at the B.C. Cobb plant in Muskegon, forestry or other manufacturing that uses our natural resources. Together they pour billions more into our state.

This income will only increase with the restoration of our natural resources, which will allow additional use.

Lubchenco also acknowledged the importance of the Great Lakes, which hold one-fifth of the world’s fresh water.

“The Great Lakes are not only important to you, but also to the state, nation and the world,” Lubchenco said.

The NOAA administrator’s words couldn’t have been more timely. Congress is fresh from its spring recess and preparing to review the budget for 2010-11. Part of what they will consider is funds for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

Last year, Congress fully funded the program focused on halting invasive species, reducing pollution, cleaning up contaminated sediment and restoring habitat with $475 million as the start of President Obama’s $5 billion over a decade commitment to the Great Lakes.

The funding prompted 1,050 proposals from the eight Great Lakes states, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, totaling more than $940 million in requests to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Michigan submitted 38 proposals totaling $219 million.

It’s clear there’s a need for this program — and it must be adequately funded to succeed.

And it’s good business. The non-partisan, independent Brookings Institution found that investing $26 billion to restore the lakes will lead to $50 billion in economic benefit for the region.

Projects currently under way in West Michigan — the restoration of Muskegon Lake, cleanup at Whitehall Leather and new work at the former Occidental Chemical site in Montague — are projects that must be resolved to remove Muskegon Lake and White Lake from a list of environmental toxic hot spots where they have floundered for more than two decades. The completion of these projects will allow expanded use of property that has been tied up for decades.

There are at least a dozen more toxic hot spots in Michigan that require additional cleanup funding.

In addition to removing this legacy of pollution, invasive species cost the Great Lakes region at least $200 million a year. That’s money spent repairing damage done by zebra mussels, quagga mussels, gobys and the like which should have been prevented from entering the lakes in the first place.

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative must be fully funded at $475 million to continue these programs and fund new ones like Asian carp research. The initiative actually could use even more money to make up for the years of neglect, but the economy is not up tot he task.

West Michigan residents should contact senators Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, and Carl Levin, D-Detroit, and U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, and urge to continue their efforts to find funding for this initiative, which will create much needed jobs in our state while protecting our most precious resources.